College of Medicine

The College of Medicine, a unit of the Health Science Center, began operations in 1956 and is located on the south end of campus. This location, in direct proximity to university facilities, offers many opportunities to utilize and complement resources of the university in the educational and investigative programs of the college.

Contact Information

Overview

The College of Medicine is responsible for several major educational programs. Foremost is the four-year program leading to the M.D. degree. The average class size is 130. After graduation, physicians enter a residency program. The college offers an interdisciplinary graduate program (IDP) in biomedical sciences leading to the Ph.D. in medical sciences with specialization in the following concentrations: biochemistry and molecular biology, genetics, immunology and microbiology, neuroscience, molecular cell biology, and physiology and pharmacology.

Joint programs exist with the colleges of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Education, Engineering, Liberal Arts and Sciences and the other colleges of the Health Science Center. Also, computational and statistical services are available through university resources and facilities.

Further training is offered through positions for postdoctoral research fellowships in all basic science and clinical departments. The clinical departments conduct frequent seminars as part of a continuing education program for practicing physicians. In addition, some of the clinical departments have assumed responsibility for community medicine programs in communities surrounding Gainesville.

The faculty is dedicated to a teaching program of high quality. The design of the four-year curriculum encourages a close faculty-student relationship. The educational program is structured to enable the graduate to choose any career in medicine. Therefore, emphasis is placed on fundamental biological principles and their relevance to the practice of medicine.

Teaching Hospitals

The primary teaching hospital for the College of Medicine is Shands at the University of Florida, a modern tertiary care facility that is part of the Health Science Center complex. Shands at UF is one of several hospitals owned and operated by Shands HealthCare, a not-for-profit system affiliated with the University of Florida. The College of Medicine also has faculty, students and residents who provide patient care, teaching and clinical trial research at the Veterans Administration Medical Center located across the street from the Health Science Center campus.

Students also receive experience at Shands Jacksonville, approximately 70 miles from Gainesville. Shands Jacksonville has a 760-bed facility with more than 250 faculty. In addition, there are more than 60 owned or affiliated outpatient or community practice sites for educational experiences.

Detailed information will be found in the College of Medicine Catalog. Copies may be obtained by writing to the Office of the University Registrar, Box 114000, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-4000.

Undergraduate Preparation

Students intending to apply for admission to the College of Medicine must complete the requirements for a bachelor’s degree. Preprofessional students at the University of Florida may major in a program offered by any department or college in the university. The Office of Health and Legal Professions Advising offers a variety of resources, including the university’s Preprofessional Handbook.

An applicant to the College of Medicine must have personal qualities of the highest order: character, integrity, intellectual honesty, responsibility, maturity, initiative and aptitude. In addition, students must demonstrate superior academic achievement during undergraduate work and complete the Medical College Aptitude Test (MCAT). Substantial extracurricular activities, especially in service and health care, are expected. Admission information and brochures are available from the College of Medicine, the Office of Admissions' preprofessional admissions section and Health and Legal Professions Advising.

Joint Degree Programs

A junior honors medical program exists for undergraduate students who have chosen a career in the medical profession and who have demonstrated both superior scholastic ability and personal development during their first two college years. Students are chosen for the program at the end of their sophomore year. The third year consists of two-thirds undergraduate courses and one-third College of Medicine courses. The latter are offered in a seminar form. The fourth year consists of first-year courses in the College of Medicine.

The program is limited to 12 students per year in order to retain the discussion seminar format. Preference is given to Florida residents. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences grants academic credit for all of the third-year work and part of the fourth-year work. A participating student receives a B.S. degree after completing the first year of medical school.

The College of Agricultural and Life Sciences also participates in this program through their food science and human nutrition major (nutrition specialization) and provides information regarding completion of the degree in that college.

The College of Medicine graduate education program offers several M.S. and joint degree programs with other colleges. A joint degree program is a credit-sharing arrangement that allows qualified students to combine their medical science background with other professional or graduate work, resulting in earning two degrees in a reduced amount of time.

Unusually gifted students may enter a combined M.D./Ph.D. program that offers an opportunity for integrating clinical experience with competence in basic biomedical research. This program reflects the increasing dependence of the practice of medicine on scientific advances in the biological sciences and seeks to produce clinician scientists.

The College of Medicine, in conjunction with the Warrington College of Business Administration and the Fredric G. Levin College of Law, offers programs leading to the M.D./M.B.A. and the M.D./J.D. degrees. A complete description of these programs is available in the College of Medicine Admissions Office. The college also offers a joint M.D/M.P.H degree and a two-year Master of Physician Assistant Studies.